Bullets
by tessacarstairsgray
Summary: Tasha shot Rose - in Dimitri's POV


**A/N: This is for Annie, who is there when I need her (to fangirl, to talk, to laugh) and since we both love this scene and adore Dimitri's POV I wrote this for her. I know that it will never be as good as Richelle's version would be but I hope you like it anyway.**

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Bullets~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

„Tasha, please, don't do that..."  
He saw Lissa walking in the direction of the desperate woman who he once counted a friend. But now... He never would have thought that Tasha was capable of doing something like this. Murdering the queen and then let it look like it was Rose. He still didn't quite understood how she could do something like this, or maybe he just didn't want to understand it. He thought of a way to calm her, so that the situation wouldn't escalate. The guardians didn't quite know what to do, obviously. They wanted to seize Tasha, but they didn't want to hurt Mia either. _They come first_. That's what all the guardians were told since their childhood or the beginning of their academic life. But no one ever thought to train guardians for situations like this. A moroi taking a moroi as a hostage. One couldn't say that this was a situation one was confronted with every day.  
He took a quick glance at Rose, seeing her fidgeting because she wanted to do something but she knew just as well as he that there wasn't much she could do right now. They had done what they came here for. Proving that Rose, in fact, wasn't the murderer. Everyone thought that afterwards the guardians were just going to seize Tasha and throw her in jail until her judgement. No one gave Tasha's fighting nature a second thought. _But I should have known, I've known her for years but I didn't think of that as well_, Dimitri thought. But there was no time for him to be angry at himself because in this moment they all realized that Tasha hadn't taken a helpless moroi hostage, but one who could fight.  
Mia kicked at Tasha and that distracted her enough that the guardians didn't see a huge danger for Mia and ran toward her. In the meantime Mia escaped from Tasha's reach. Tasha panicked, he could see it clearly on her face. She pointed the gun at Lissa, who still came towards her. He knew Rose, and he could see her fighting off the guardians holding her in place, he did the same, without much trouble. He ran after Rose, hoping he would reach her in time to push her out of the way the bullet of the gun would take. But then he remembered, through his fear for Rose, why she ran there in the first place. If he would be there in time to save her, that would mean Lissa would be without any protection. Could he save both of them, get them out of the way in time so none of them would be injured or even killed? _The old problem_, he thought. _If I let myself love you, I won't throw myself in front of her. I'll throw myself in front of you._ The words seemed to mock him now. He always hoped it never came to a situation like this. Because, in fact, he never knew what he would do. He was one of the most dutiful guardians, many people said so, and as his duty his only thoughts should be to save the princess. But his heart told him otherwise. He saw her long brown hair flying behind her as she ran and had to think back to the night in the alley. How she told him to concentrate and notice the beauty of the things around him. Of course, she didn't mean herself, he could tell that. But in that moment he noticed her, like the first time he really noticed her, not only her beauty, though he noticed that as well. But also her strength and he saw how much she had grown since their first encounter. She was stronger now, in many ways.  
In that alley he realized that he had to live. That all the lives he took meant nothing if he didn't take the chance he was offered. She had saved him. And now, he needed to save her.  
But how could he listen to both, his heart and his duty? It was like one always saw in cartoons, the angel on the one shoulder, the devil on the other. But in his case, he couldn't even say what the angel represented and what the devil. Maybe he could save both of them, get them both out of the way, he had to try.  
About all this he thought really quickly, it was a matter of seconds, if it was that long at all. In the meantime Tasha fired two bullets at Princess Lissa, she was frantic, just firing to do something. He ran faster, but he was not fast enough. Rose came to a halt in front of a shocked and white-faced Lissa, and the bullets hit her right in the chest.  
Everything seemed to slow down. The way Rose grimaced as the pain came, the way she staggered back and how Lissa stopped her fall, holding her in her arms. Lissa looked down on her, still shocked but tears ran down her face. Dimitri stopped mid-run. He couldn't comprehend what just happened. That Rose was seriously wounded. Of course he knew that this was possible but in the last months he thought of her in a way that suggested that she was stronger than anyone else, that she could find a solution and beat everything, even if he didn't tell her that. She sometimes was too full of her abilities and needed a damper to stay focused. Everything didn't include bullets, or so it seemed. He stared at her chest where two red stains grew larger by the second. Distantly he heard Tasha scream, but he didn't care, all he cared about was Rose and she was lying there, slowly bleeding to death while he was too shocked to move. He couldn't lose her, not now that they really had a chance. Not when they finally both agreed that it wasn't worth holding back. That shook him out of his trance and in a second he knelt beside Lissa and Rose, Lissa still crying. Rose looked at both of them, though it seemed like she saw less and less with every passing second. But her look was clear, she was fully there, looking at them, first at Lissa and then at him. And that look changed his world once again, she seemed to have a talent of doing that. In this look he saw everything, that she understood him like no one else ever had, that she loved him, and what struck him the most: That she really forgave him when she said she had. There was not a moment of regret or any negative emotion in her eyes, and in that moment he knew that she truly had forgiven him. That she didn't lie to him and to herself. As he realized that a great weight was lifted off his shoulders, he always felt guilty for what he did to Rose in Russia. But when he saw her love and forgiveness, so pure, he could forgive himself for the things that happened as well. _Too late_, an inner voice said. He wanted that voice to be quiet, nothing was lost yet. She needed a doctor or a healer, she could still be saved. He couldn't lose her now. Not now, that nothing stood between them anymore, he had to tell her that he had forgiven himself, that they could truly be together now. She couldn't die now, he wouldn't let her. Desperation welled up inside him, he was not a doctor, beside of cleaning minor wounds and applying a plaster to the wound he was useless. And one couldn't really say that this was a minor wound.  
In that moment her eyes closed. She still breathed, but only barely. Shallow breaths that couldn't get enough oxygen into her lungs. She was as pale as a ghost and cold sweat covered every inch of her skin. He heard a sob, distant but full of pain. It took him a moment to realize that it was him who had made that sound. He never cried much. Even when he was younger he never cried, the only time he could remember that he really cried was when Lissa had turned him into a dhampir again. And here he knelt, looking at Rose while the life bled out of her. No, he would not be weak. She wasn't dead yet she could still be saved. He tried to compose himself, but without much success, the sobbing stopped, but tears still ran down his cheeks. He looked at Lissa, but she was fully concentrating on Rose. She started healing her. Everything would be fine, Rose would live. Lissa already did it once, she could do it again.

But then two guardians came and wanted to drag Lissa away. They wanted to take away Rose chance to live. He wanted to stand up and hold them off but his legs wouldn't move, his hands wouldn't let go of Rose's, which he had gripped tight without noticing. Lissa was screaming at them to let her go, to let her help Rose, but they would hear none of it. She was dragged away, somewhere where it was safer for her. He also heard Adrian and his attempt to get to Rose to heal her but he was carted off as well.  
Suddenly, a doctor he didn't know and another moroi were there with a gurney, on which they lifted her carefully. He stood up as well, still holding her hand. _Everything will be okay Rose. I promise. You're strong. You'll survive this_, he thought to Rose as much as to himself. He thought back to the moment when he realized that he thought she was stronger than anyone else, anyone else would die with two bullets in the chest. But not Rose. Not her. She was strong. She was so strong and it was one of the many reasons he loved her. She would survive. She just had to. He had to tell her so much. That he forgave himself and how much he loved her. How beautiful, and strong, and fierce she was. That he never wanted to leave her again.  
As he looked after her as they brought her to the hospital wing of the court, where he had to wait outside, he just hoped she really was as strong as he thought. But he had to believe in her. Nothing could go wrong if he believed in her like she had always believed in him.

**A/N: Please look over the grammar mistakes I haven't gotten it beta-ed and English isn't my native language and I wrote that from midnight until 2am. Reviews are always really appreciated no matter if it's praise or critique :)**


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